Schools

What can schools do to PREVENT Cyber Bullying?

Raise awareness on the impacts of cyber bullying
Educate parents, school staff and students on how to handle and react should they come across a cyber bullying case
Be proactive in taking steps to address the cyber bullying cases in school such as creating policies, close supervision etc.
Develop an action plan to conduct against any cyber bullying incidents that involve violence or suicide
Implement an effective community – based approach that addresses concerns of cyber bullying that occurs outside of school

Take a stand against cyber bullying:

Address ways in which students can become unintentional cyber bullies, how to be responsible and not to condone or ignore any form of bullying.

Work with parents to stop and remedy cyber bullying situations
Educate students on cyber ethics and law
Schools reserve the rights to discipline students for actions taken outside of school if they are intended to have an effect on any student or negatively affect the safety and well- being of any student while in school
Take a stand against cyber bullying by implementing policies. With that in place, consequences can be enforced. At times, schools may face limited authority over disciplinary actions against students, thus parents can be called in to mediate the situation

Step 1: Participate in the planning process				Incorporate cyber bullying concerns into the school’s crisis management protocol. Include non- teaching staff, parent support group, counsellor, administrative staff, canteen stall holders, cleaners etc., to keep them informed of the school’s intervention approach (Whole School Approach)
Step 2: Conduct needs analysis				Conduct a survey with students to identify incidence rates, locations of incidents (in or outside school), and factors that may be stopping students from reporting the incidents so that staff can supervise accordingly.
Step 3: Develop an effective anti – bullying programme				Emphasize on the school’s core values to teach values such as discipline, respect and integrity which complement the Anti – bullying program. Response and action taken towards each student’s report on cyber bullying should be handled in a timely fashion and to encourage reporting, adults need to respond efficiently.
Step 4: Review policies and procedures				School Policies about internet and mobile communication devices should include regulations on the usage of communication devices within school premises. Some form of technical monitoring of internet use is advisable.
Step 5: Conduct professional development				Key personnels (Principals, Vice – Principals, HODs, DMs, Form teachers, FTSCs) are to have an in – depth understanding of cyber bullying issues, responses and resources. All administrators and non – teaching staff need to have a basic understanding of cyber bullying as well.
Step 6: Educate parents on Cyber Bullying				Strategies to prevent and detect cyber bullying if their children happen to be victims of cyber bullying. Potential consequences if their children are engaged in cyber bullying, which include school disciplinary consequences.
Step 7: Educate Students on Cyber Bullying				Incorporate lessons on cyber bullying into life skills/ bullying prevention classes and/ or running on Anti- Bullying Campaign in School. Have students to act against and stand up for their friends
Step 8: Evaluate				Evaluate cyber bullying prevention and intervention programmes periodically to determine their effectiveness.

For Parents

What can Parents do to PREVENT Cyber Bullying?

Quick Tips:

Keep the computer in visible places, such as the living room
Have regular conversations with your child about his or her online activities
Discuss and set rules for the usage of internet at home
Talk specifically about cyber bullying and encourage your child to tell you immediately if he or she is involved in cyber bullying
Explain that cyber bullying is a harmful and unacceptable behavior. Specify the consequences for inappropriate behavior
You may like to tell your child that there’s a possibility of you reviewing his/her online communications if you think there is a reason for concern.

Preventive Measures

Block

Restrict all incoming communications to senders who have been pre-approved, such as those on your child’s friends list. If the cyber bullying is someone on his/her list of friends, you will need to remove or block them from the list.

Ignore

Cyber bullies are able to track your child easily due to their knowledge of the cyber world. To eliminate this problem, ask your child to not add strangers in their friend list, only add people whom they have met before.

Google your child

This is to ensure that the cyber bully is not posting any attacks online against your child. When you get an early warning, it is essential that you keep an eye on your child’s screen name, nick names, full name, address etc. you can also set up an alert on Google to notify your whenever anything about your child is posted online.

Report

Most cases of cyber bullying occur off school grounds or outside of school hours. Thus, if your child is being cyber bullies, you should inform the school so that disciplinary actions can be taken. There are times when cyber bullying is the continuation of traditional bullying, hence, your child will be safer if the school is aware of such bullying incidents.

What can Parents do to STOP Cyber Bullying?

Act as one trusted avenue: One that your child can go to when things go wrong online and offline.
Avoid overreacting: For eg. Calling up the bully or their parents to reprimand them) Most children will avoid telling their parents about a cyber bullying incident, fearing that they will only make things worse.

Be Supportive: Do not undermine the seriousness or impact of what cyber bullying can do to your child. Keep the discipline and comments till your child is better. Allow your child to feel safe at home.

Inform the school: The counselor can keep a lookout for bullying in school and help your child cope better.

Understand the situation: Investigate and find out more about the bullying incident, your child may be playing two roles; the cyber bully as well as the cyber victim.
Communicate with your child: Teach your child the best way to respond online, do not encourage fighting back/ aggressive or violent responses. Ask your child if he or she has an idea who the bully is.

Ignore It: If it is a non- threatening act which does not repeat itself, it can probably be ignored. But if it is a threat, do report to ensure the safety of your child.

For Children & Youth

What can Children or Youths do to PREVENT Cyber Bullying?

Google Yourself!

Take note of any fake profile of you such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, Snapchat or any other webpage that shows your personal information.

Repeat the search with your Name in Quotes and Images

Step1: If you find that your personal contact information appears where you do not want it to appear, you can report it via the Webpage Removal Request Tool available through Google then your personal information will not appear under Google’s search results. However, this information is available in the web till the webmaster removes the information or takes the page down from the web entirely. Google will only contact the site’s host when credit card information, adult contents or inappropriate images is featured.

Step 2: Contact the webmaster, whom you can usually find at webmaster@[the website name/URL].

Include the following in your email:

URL of the page that includes your personal information
The exact information you want to remove and evidence that you are the victim

What can Children or Youths do to STOP Cyber Bullying?

STOP

Do not attempt to do anything. It is important to have a clear mind before you act.

BLOCK

Restrict or block all communications with the cyber bully.

SAVE

Save all communication with the cyber bully as evidence.

TELL

Inform a trusted adult; parent, school counselor or teacher. Do not suffer alone.

Things to note when reporting

Copy and paste the information from the site directly into an email. Address the email to yourself as well so that you have a record of what you send, to whom and when you send.
If you do not get a reply within a week, send a follow – up email and include all the information you have sent previously as well as the date which you sent in the earlier email.